So in my story, these fighters are invited from all across the globe to compete in these death matches ( though many of them do not know it's a death match, but they know it's a full out no holds contact fight), so the fighters have an idea what they are getting into, as there will be bare handed fighters of martial artists , cqc fighters, weapon users and gun users, which the winner will recieve millions of dollars, plus this special technology that they can use that can easily destroy the supernatural that the tournament sponsor's been working on. Also little to no ones knowledge, there will be monsters, mutants and cyborgs that the sponsor will be throwing into the mix, which already shows a lot of the human martial art fighters will probably lose a lot in the matches. The sponsor holding the tournament wants to show everyone that their technology is the only way to combat the supernatural, which has recently gone rampant the past couple years and this tournament will prove why humans need to rely on the tournament sponsor's technology. It starts out as a battle royal free for all brawl to ween out the weak, then remaining 40 will compete in the official tournament. For this to be more believable, where there are no rules settings, would karate, taekwondo players and kung fu experts not make sense in joining because they have more rule settings in their respective competitions, whereas something like krav maga and military combative fighters or at least cage fighters, would stand a better chance in joining because of their less rules to no rules in fighting?
I used to do martial arts, I didn't make black belt but my brother did. Whilst the martial arts that have become olympic sports are somewhat formal/abstract as you say, the actual people who study them often study more than one, and remain very interested in practical self-defense and/or combat (including historically when they were used for real combat or on the battlefield rather than as sports). At least, enough of them do that somebody could enter the death match if you want them to. I guess that's a two-edged sword because on the one hand it's easier to research karate techniques than state-of-the-art cyborg tactics, but on the other: more of the readers will be able to notice any mistakes. You might have seen those little dog robots on Youtube - they have to be used be trained operators in case they cause fatal crushing injuries
Well considering this will take place in the near future or possibly further future from now, with magic and the supernatural having run rampant, I could just make up the fighting styles for the humans and say they are all part of these special groups competing in this tournament death matches? One of my characters is a cyber samurai, which is kind of similar to Genji from the game Overwatch.
I believe it's all about execution - a story doesn't consist in what happens in it, but in its characters. So any setting is as good as any other so long as it lets you tell a satisfying story. I'm a structuralist though, I'd be just as happy with:- 1961. In this alternative history, competitive eaters are invited from all over Hungary to compete in 'Blindgorge', a risky new Russian variation on speed-eating: which culminates in grotesque bush-tucker rounds, such as live spiders. Experts from all the established categories will be there:- traditional 'pirogniks' (meat or custard pies), 'krekerniks' (biscuits and other hard foodstuffs) and the mentally-unstable 'chudaki' (non-edibles), but who knows what training regimes and lubricants they will need to stomach the toxic arthropods the officials have been breeding under the reactor? Will Grigor, a young mixed-gurgital-artist from Kiskőrös prevail, or will the tournament's sponsors again prove that "in Communist Russia", the bugs wake up as you? (apologies to György Pálfi)
I like it, it's a good analogy But what kind of logic can I use in my story if melee weapon and firearm expert users are allowed to join this fighting tournament as there are no holds bare as in anything goes, how can it make logical sense and be fair to the bare handed martial artists?
Real duels used to have a step of the participants choosing their weapon - so maybe it's in rounds and they fire a couple of shots at each other with the plasma bazookas and if they both survive that the next round changes it to rusty garden forks
That can definitely create an easier scenario for it to happen. But for those who are only trained in bare hand combat, would they appear dumb and suicidal if they were to go up against weapon, sword, gun users? Maybe if the winner receives an enormous amount of money, they'd be willing to risk it?
There could be a handicap system so the trained person always gets a worse gun. But if it was entirely fair they might as well toss a coin.
So this means that the ones who are a trained gunman would recieve a weaker gun and one who's not skilled with guns but more skilled at hand to hand would recieve a stronger gun?
I'm not saying that'll do what's needed - but with enough effort a speculative setting can usually be hacked about to fit the story that's to be told in it - certainly the one in the OP "works". If it didn't there wouldn't be 11 Mortal Kombat games
There's probably ways around it then. What if all the bare handed had superpowers that they've developed at the tournament to combat weapons?
I have a quick question to ask. You made a good point. Though Mortal Kombat is a fictional game, how could I explain how regular martial arts hand to hand fighters would be ok going up against gun and weapon based fighters, which gives such an advantage over the hand to hand fighters.
They dip them all in the River Styx at the start. They hold some by the heel, but others by whatever body parts the organisers grabbed on to. The resulting combats depend on finding the other fighter's only weak spot that wasn't dipped in the water.
no worries - I try to use ridiculous references in case the other person is tempted to actually use them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles%27_heel#Origin Achilles' heel is an archetypal fantasy plot device, which is taught in schools but which Homer probably just pulled out of the hat to solve the plot problem of how Achilles survives 24 books of carnage.
I believe that's a reference to Achilles, whose weak point is his ankle (his Achilles tendon to be more precise), because he was bathed in a river that gave him immortality or invulnerability or something, but they held him by one ankle so that part didn't receive the treatment. I think @evild4ve is suggesting you use something similar, probably not directly, but indirectly. Somehow your characters have various kinds of invulnerability, but they also have weak points which keeps things interesting. Sounds like a sound idea to me. Damn! I took a bit too long!
Look, I've been a martial artist for 25 years. The only reason rule sets work in martial arts tournaments is because everyone agrees to fight by those rule sets. If you have a judo tournament that outlaws throwing a punch, that rule only works because everyone in the competition agreed not to throw punches. However, Judo has punches. Did you know that? Well, it does. Did you know karate has throws? No? Well, it does. Did you know that Taekwondo has arm breaks? No? Well it does. The only reason you don't see it is because you're thinking that these styles have rules, and they really don't. When it comes down to it, there is really only a very thin line separating a tame art from a very lethal art and that's the ambition of the practitioner.
@evild4ve and @Xoic Thank you! Ooh then in that case, it may not work for the plot for my character's story because I'd want my weapon based fighters and my gun based fighters to not be held back from their skills so some of these fights will be unfair. There has to be another way around it
I agree with what you're saying. I don't know much about martial arts, and from some of the knowledge I researched and found videos on, would a judo, karate or taekwondo practitioner in a no holds death match even be able to do as good as say a cage fighter mixed martial artist who has trained in fights and competitions doing all the moves a karate, taekwondo and judo fighter knows, plus more?
Different focal-point activity? Ring-toss or quoits divide into under-arm and over-arm throwing with very different techniques, training and skills, but neither style is unfair on the opponent. Since it's fantasy, it's possible to add in rubber bands or catapults. How interesting the focal-point activity is depends solely on how interesting the writer makes it: I mean, look at quidditch.
Good examples, perhaps if some of the fighters are trained in styles that can perform weapons based on these moves it will work out well.
My only big problem now is figuring out what to do with there being two MC's who are very similar. Both are different stories. One is a Japanese MC who's parents are prowess karate masters, the mother descends from a demon, the father is a organization leader and sets up the no holds tournament but he tried to rid the MC and mother for being demons. The other story is the MC and both parents American, the father is this expert martial artist that runs this bloodsport tournament and the mother also a martial artist who descends from a European dragon, the MC also carrying this European dragon powers. The father tempt to also kill the mother and MC for being mythical dragons and wants their powers for his own. Both MC's sound way too similar
